There is disclosed in GB-A No. 1338706 a belt loop for attachment to an article of clothing, which belt loop has, at opposite ends thereof, a coating of a fray-prevention binding medium.
In manufacturing such belt loops, the loops are first cut from a strip or length of material and then the adhesive material (or binding medium) is sprayed or applied by an applicator to the ends of the loops, or alternatively the ends are dipped into the adhesive for the desired extent or penetration. Although not specifically referred to in said specification, it has been conventional for many years to secure belt loops to articles of clothing by sewing, and indeed more specifically by a method generally as set out in the preceding paragraph.
It will be appreciated that such a method of applying the binding medium requires individual handling of the separate loops, which, if carried out by hand, is tedious and time-consuming or, if carried out by machine, requires relatively complicated handling apparatus. Furthermore, since the adhesive has then to be dried prior to attaching to the article of clothing, further handling steps, and possibly storage for a short period, are required.
Thus, the method set out in GB-A No. 1338706 does not readily lend itself to a production line, still less to an automatic production of garments.
It is proposed in FR-A No. 2329787 to apply locally, e.g. by a screen printing technique, a binding medium to sheet material, e.g. textile material, prior to cutting into garment components, with a view to the binding medium subsequently preventing fraying of the edges of such cut components. In this case, however, the cut edge portions are not to be exposed in the finished garment (bearing in mind that the edge treatment is intended merely to replace a conventional overlocking of otherwise raw edges), so that from the point of view of the appearance of the edge portions in the finished garment it would not be considered important to ensure that no loose thread whatsoever could arise. Consequently for example it was considered adequate to apply the binding medium only to one side of the material.
By comparison, belt loops are clearly visible in the finished garment, so that even a small number of loose threads will not be acceptable. Furthermore the effectiveness of the fray-prevention should last for an extended period, viz. throughout the life of the garment, even when subjected to repeated washing.